Protest the Protesters!

I was walking out of the engineering building yesterday and witnessed democracy literally crumbling before me. Bear with me.

I've now been a student at McMaster for six years, and it seems that as years go by, protesters of varying backgrounds have been increasingly clogging the arteries of my school. Various issues, whether it be the school's contract with Coke, or the banishment of vehicles on campus have been debated, argued, examined, protested, and finally voted on by the student body. I fully believe that everybody should have the right to fight for what they believe in, but eventually, the rights of the loudest minority is always going to win over the apathetic majority.

You're probably thinking that if that many people don't give a shit, then we shouldn't feel sorry for them when they lose out. I have always advocated the philosophy that if you don't vote in an election, then you don't have the right to complain about the government. But there's a certain point when things start getting ridiculous.

At McMaster, at any given point in time, there is at least one group attempting to push their agenda on the rest of the student body. Last month, there was a huge uproar about the school's exclusivity deal with Coca Cola, and how Coke was allegedly abusing their workers in South America. Protesters said that students should be given a choice on what beverages they could purchase on campus, and as such, the contract with Coke should not be renewed. Instead of the elected student union deciding on the issue, yet another referendum was held in which less than 12% of the undergraduate body voted. I can only assume that most of the students who did participate were either directly or indirectly involved with the protesting or were linked up with the McMaster Solar Car team who also somehow managed to slip their own agenda on the ballot. The remaining 88% of the undergrads? I can't imagine they even knew about the vote in the first place, and if they did, simply didn't care.

And you know what? I can't say I blame them. Assuming the contract with Coke is axed in the next two years, students will still buy Coke. And if they don't, they’ll buy Pepsi—another company that has a questionable human rights record. All of this fuss and all of this money spent on a referendum, and exactly nothing was accomplished (save for the organizers of the protest who can now add a new, glaring "perk" to their resume). This inefficiency underlies the need for a central government, and exposes the realities of a true democracy. If everybody can vote on every single issue, people will just stop caring. We have our own lives to worry about, and this is the exact reason why we pay government representatives to make decisions for us.

I'm sure all of this talk about "central government" and "protecting the interests of the majority" gives all of the left-wing hippies out there cause to celebrate. This brings me to the opposite side of the coin, which came to me when I walked out of John Hodgkin's Engineering Building (JHE) yesterday afternoon.

"The Plumbline" is an engineering-based satirical newspaper (and I use that word loosely—it’s more like a single-sided black and white photocopy) that has been around for decades, and is run by the McMaster Engineering Society. Most engineers love the publication. They love the fact that it's dirty, they love the fact that it's crude, and they love the fact that it's politically incorrect. These are also the reasons why the majority of non-engineers hate the publication. Queue the protesters.

When I walked out of JHE that day, there they were. Signs out, screaming at the top of their lungs, calling for the complete banishment of The Plumbline from campus. I would later find out that an engineering student is currently standing trial for sexual assault (although they conveniently embellished on the charges, calling the offence "rape").

Obviously, The Plumbline is to blame for the charges. It doesn't matter that the trial is ongoing. It doesn't matter that there is no logical way a satirical publication can be held responsible for the violent actions of an individual. It doesn't matter that The Plumbline is completely funded by engineers. It doesn't matter that in the last two years, the editors of The Plumbline have severely toned down the offensive content of the paper. It doesn't matter that the movement is basing its protests against snippets of the paper that were written years ago. It doesn't matter that The Plumbline is only available in the engineering lounge, and not promoted anywhere on campus. PUNISH THEM!

And while we're at it, we should shut down other offensive material on campus. The GLBT centre has gotta go—it’ll offend hard-lined Catholics. And Christian groups? Hey... you're going to offend some members of the Islamic population. Zionists? Hah! You're outta here. And my sincere apologies to the McMaster football team. I'm sorry to tell you that there is a large group of people on campus that don't believe in violent sports.

And so, low-and-behold, the yelling outside of JHE continues. The fact of the matter is, the actual content of The Plumbline is completely irrelevant. This is a matter of free speech. If you don't like The Plumbline, then don't read it. Respect the fact that we're ALL different. We all have different beliefs, different values, and different types of humour.

Something tells me I'm not going to like the results of the next referendum....